San Jose State University president Don Kassing and associate vice president Larry Carr met with officials from the FDA in Washington, D.C., last week to discuss the FDA’s blood donor policy.

Carr said he left the meeting, “perhaps a little disappointed and a little frustrated.” Though, he added, “I don’t think I had high expectations going into that.”

He said FDA officials emphasized that the agency was a mechanism of regulation, not research, and that current medical science justifies its protocols.

Carr said the FDA doesn’t believe it is its responsibility to look for new science or technology — the research is left to a private market.

The FDA’s policy is in place to protect the safety of the blood supply, said Karen Riley of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

Riley said additional scientific data would be needed to change the current policy, but right now there hasn’t been any new scientific information presented for the FDA to review.